Fox News host Martha MacCallum got into a testy exchange with President Joe Biden’s senior adviser, Gene Sperling, about fears of a potential recession Monday.
MacCallum asked Sperling if he “subscribes” to a recession being defined as negative growth in the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) in two consecutive quarters. The advisor argued more factors, including the jobs market, go into defining a recession.
He argued that private sector growth rose 3% and that earnings reports from JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and City Group showed that consumers are spending 10% more than last year, which is “not consistent with a recessionary period.”
“Well, you can see why people are a little bit weary, because we were all told that inflation was going to be transitory by the same individuals, by all of you. So that does make people weary to listen again,” MacCallum said.
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The host cited a CNN poll finding that 64% of Americans believe the nation is already in a recession due to their own personal economic experiences. The poll surveyed 1,459 respondents between June 13-July 13 with a 3.3% margin of error.
“You can tell us that everything is going to be fine because job growth is good, and I would only point out on that front that we have also had a once-in-a-century pandemic, so when you completely shut down the U.S. economy, you would expect you’re going to add a lot of jobs as you’re coming out of it. Correct?” (RELATED: ‘Give Me A Ballpark’: Martha MacCallum Confronts Biden Admin Official On Inflation)
“I think the reality is that when you have a once-in-a-generation pandemic and then an unthinkable war that roils the global economy, it is hard to imagine that the U.S. economy would escape all that,” Sperling replied. “But Martha, I gave you very solid facts about why this economy is showing resilience, why you’re having strong markets. There’s no doubt or spin to the idea that we’ve created a million jobs in the last three months and there’s no spin to what I said about the reporting from JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley or City Group. Those are all reflecting strength.”
“Like I said, I think everybody hopes that you’re right and it can be tricky as a supervisor, that’s why you get elected and that’s why people rely on your sort of experience. They don’t want to be told that something’s transitory then it turns out not to be and you see how people feel when you have 64% saying ‘I’m already in a recession as far as I’m concerned.'”
Sperling argued that the economic recovery is “consistent” with predictions and strong, which MacCallum said is a result of coming out of the pandemic. She then argued the government had given out “way too much stimulus” that ultimately led to inflation.
“We’ll see in the end, in history’s eye, who’s actually right,” MacCallum said.
“The core inflation rate is actually higher than the U.S.,” Sperling argued.
“You’ve made this point before, Gene, and I think it would be nice if you made us feel better that ours wasn’t quite as bad as some other people,” she said.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is scheduled to release the second quarter GDP growth of 2022 Thursday, which will indicate whether the nation has faced positive or negative growth.